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Monthly Archives: December 2008

— Knew this game would be close—Rutgers matches up well with Pitt. The difference was Pitt’s bench, which posted a 31-9 scoring edge. That’s why Pitt is No. 3 in the country. There was little drop-off when the subs were called upon in the second half. One of those, Seton Hall Prep grad Ashton Gibbs, buried a dagger of a 3-pointer from the left corner.

— Rutgers is playing much better offensively now that Freddie Hill has loosened the reigns and is letting his guards push the tempo. That’s where they are most comfortable.

— After Rutgers torched them in the first half, Pitt switched to zone for the first time all year. It threw Rutgers off just enough, and that’s why Jamie Dixon is one of the best in the business.

— It looks like Rutgers has turned the corner but they’re going into a hornet’s nest Saturday and I expect a blowout loss.

“We were right there,” AnthonyFarmer said. “We did the things we needed to do to win down the stretch. That’s why you’ve got to give them credit. They’re the No. 3 team in the country. They fought back and executed and pulled this one out.”

“That was the first time in all the film we watched that Pitt played zone. They had to come out what they wanted to do,” Rutgers coach Fred Hill said. “In the second half they went zone probably for about 10 possessions, and in those 10 possessions we got the ball where we wanted—-we just weren’t able to convert and finish.”

“A great effort from our bench,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. “Everybody gave us everything they had. We’re just very fortunate to have a lot of good players.”

“Coach told us to run, and that’s what we want to do as well,” Corey Chandler said. “Most of our points came from running.”

NOTEBOOK: Departing AD Bob Mulcahy addressed the crowd of 6,300 at halftime (great crowd for a holiday, by the way):

Saw Ridge top Piscataway 43-36 in the Len Sepanak Tourney final last night. Very intense game. Four thoughts:

–Ridge junior Ishak Pitt is legit. The 6-3 transfer from Our Savior New American can break down a defense and he can drain a spot-up shot. He’s a good defender, and perhaps most impressively, he took Piscataway’s defensive punishment and saved his best ball for the fourth quarter.

–However, Ridge needs scoring contributions from more people. If not, familiar foes are going to toss a triangle-and-two on Pitt and sharpshooter Andrew Madlinger, who has Reggie Miller-type range.

–Piscataway forward Tristan Benjamin is more than just a workhorse. The 6-6 senior has a fine interior passing touch and moves well without the ball. There was some quality buddy ball between Benjamin and fellow big Aaron Hush, but the Chiefs need more from their guards to keep defenses honest.

–Ridge’s new 1,400-seat gym is outstanding. It’s well-lit, retains an air of coziness, and the fiberglass bleachers are positioned perfectly for maximum noise effect. It won’t host a county final—-too small—-but from an everyday standpoint it’s as good as Hillsborough’s. And the Ridge student-fans, while not at the creative level of Immaculata, Watchung Hills or Bridgewater-Raritan yet, is as rabid as they come.

A few more quick hits on the holiday tourneys:

–Rutgers Prep raised more than a few eyebrows by beating Bloomfield Tech. Heard there were some shenanigans in the bleachers at the end of the game.

–Watchung Hills has reloaded quickly. Keep an eye on Zach O’Brien.

–Hunterdon Central and Voorhees are better than we thought.

–Scotch Plains suffered some heartbreak at the Kowal Tourney, losing two squeakers, but good teams learn from that.

–Bishop Loughlin (N.Y.) must be awfully good to pound Plainfield like they did.

–Would like to have seen Middlesex tested more in its holiday tourney.

–A little birdie predicted that Gill St. Bernard’s will be a top five seed in the Somerset County Tourney.

–Did You Know? Len Sepanak was an assistant coach at Ridge who succumbed to cancer in 1992. He also coached at St. Joseph-Metuchen, where one of his players was none other than current Ridge skipper Mark Taylor. Each year a scholarship in Len’s name is given to the top male and female student-athlete from Ridge’s basketball programs.

The phrase “moral victory” has somehow become a profanity, but it bests describes Rutgers’ competitive loss at No. 1 UNC on Sunday. Today the Scarlet Knights try to build on that in their Big East opener against Pitt: RU energized by North Carolina showing

OUCH

After taking a short-handed butt-whipping at Syracuse, Seton Hall should approach its next two games with a sense of urgency (West Virginia and Villanova, both at home). One thing we don’t want to see, however, is John Garcia rushing back to the court before his strained knee is ready.

Thursday at Hoops Haven: A look at how the NCAA’s new 3-point line is affecting shooters.

The time for preparation is past. The greatest show on wood begins tonight when the deepest conference in the history of college basketball tips off its league schedule. Here are 10 predictions and a few other related items of note, including Christian Morris’ transfer decision and a quick glace at Seton Hall’s league opener. (we welcome reader predictions as well):

Prediction 2: Louisville will be the last Big East team standing in the NCAA Tournament. They’re playing lousy right now, but the Cardinals have the most depth, which will come in handy after 18 grueling games, and Rick Pitino’s clubs always peak late.

Prediction 3: An unprecedented nine teams will make the Big Dance: Pitt, UConn, LVille, ND, Cuse, Nova, GTown, Marquette and West Virginia. Two of those teams will wind up facing each other in the second round.

Prediction 4: Now that all 16 teams make the Big East Tourney, two of the bottom four will pull an upset on that first day (and folks will complain about it).

Prediction 5: West Virginia is the biggest sleeper and will cause the big boys major headaches.

Prediction 6: Cincinnati is not as good as its record and will fade.

Prediction 7: Providence is better than its record and will get its act together.

Prediction 8: Rutgers will be a non-factor, and so will Seton Hall unless John Garcia’s knee recovers by mid-January.

Prediction 9: South Florida will win one game.

Prediction 10: At least two coaches will be fired or resign. It’s too early to name names, but a league this good is going to claim victims.

PREVIEW: SETON HALL AT SYRACUSE, Tuesday night

First, let’s get this off our chest: Jim Boeheim wins a lot of games, but he is a bad guy who sets a poor example.

His role in reducing Eric Devendorf’s penalty for an altercation with a female student was reprehensible, but not surprising. Boeheim never has been concerned with mentoring young men. He’s just about winning basketball games. If someone had backhanded Boeheim’s wife instead of some nameless student, maybe he’d be singing a different tune. Then again, if it was a key player on his team, maybe not.

Now to the game: The Hall will go without head coach Bobby Gonzalez, who is serving a one-game suspension for his shenanigans against Rutgers last March, and senior center John Garcia, who is out for at least another week with a knee injury. Gonzo will be sitting in his hotel room, probably screaming his head off at the TV.

Derm Player will coach the team, and it will be interesting to see if Derm allows Mike Davis and Brandon Walters to play through mistakes. Jeremy Hazell could be in for a big game against Syracuse’s zone, but many visiting shooters have trouble with depth perception in the cavernous Carrier Dome.

This figures to be a high-scoring affair. Seton Hall gave up lots of open looks in the non-conference slate and Syracuse can make them pay for it. The Orange are not great on the boards, but they may look great against the Hall’s depleted frontcourt.

Tough opening draw for the Pirates. Only hot shooting by Hazell and Robert Mitchell can keep them in it. A double-digit loss seems likely.

CHRISTIAN MORRIS DECIDES ON NORFOLK STATE

The Rutgers freshman center is transferring to a team riding a 10-game losing streak. Here’s the story from today’s Virginian-Pilot newspaper, with a quote from the big fella: Morris heading south

MIKE ROSARIO, BIG EAST ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Congrats to the Rutgers uber-frosh, who poured in 26 points at No. 1 North Carolina. He’s leading league rookies with 17.5 ppg and all players with 88 percent FT shooting.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams pulled the Rutgers super-frosh aside before their game Sunday night.

“He said, ‘Coming from the bottom of my heart you’re a great player. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’re going to be successful in life,’” Rosario recounted.

The guard from St. Anthony responded by pouring in 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range. Rutgers lost 97-75, but Rosario’s fearlessness kept it respectable.

“I was surprised, coming from Roy Williams, he’s a great coach,” Rosario said of the pull-aside. “This actually was a dream school that I wanted to come to, but my options were other options. It basically gave me motivation to keep working at everything 100 percent.”

In his post-game press conference, Williams called Rosario a “fantastic young man, fantastic player” and added, “he comes in and gets 26 against us and some of them were fairly tough shots.”

Here are other observations and quotes from the Dean Dome:

—Tyler Hansbrough is incomparable. His drop-step, reverse-pivot, 10-foot shot in the first half was a fundamental masterpiece. But Ty Lawson is every bit as good. The guy makes almost no mistakes and he plays at 100 miles per hour.

—We have a legitimate starting five: Rosario, Anthony Farmer, Corey Chandler, Greg Echenique and Hamady N’Diaye. This is Rutgers’ best combination and allows the Scarlet Knights to push the pace and attack the rim—-the mode in which Rosario and Chandler are most comfortable. Chandler (14 points on 5-of-11 shooting) and Farmer (12 points, 6 assists, 2 turnovers) responded well to their insertion into the lineup.

—Despite its youth, Rutgers didn’t have that deer-in-the-headlights look that is so easy to get under these circumstances.

—On the whole, good experience for Rutgers. Yes, they lost by 22, but they hung in there for 30 minutes and most people (myself included) thought it would be worse. They can build on this.

NOTABLE QUOTES:

Fred Hill on UNC: “They have no weaknesses. This is the best team I’ve seen in my years coaching. I think they’re a very, very special group.”

Mike Rosario: ““I wasn’t intimidated. I was ready to play and help the team.”

J.R. Inman: “I thought we played our basketball against this team since I’ve been here.”

Roy Williams: “I told Fred he’s got some young kids, they’ve really upgraded the level of talent from what it was three years go. I think he’s really done a nice job.”

Ty Lawson: “Rutgers is getting better as a team. The players are better, (Echenique) is good, and their system is good. They’re going to be a team to watch out for in the future.”

Danny Green: “They’re young and you can tell. They’re usually more physical. I think a lot of it has to do with inexperience. They usually have a lot of bigs that give us more problems, but that wasn’t the case tonight.”

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—-The powder blue sea of people began assembling in front of the shops along Franklin Street about four hours before game time. It spilled in and out of no fewer than four bookstores selling University of North Carolina men’s basketball paraphernalia.

Two hours before tip-off, the tide had rolled to the Dean Smith Center. Folks milled about the entrances as if waiting for something remarkable to happen. A massive line, like one of those at Great Adventure in July, snaked out of the entrance to the Carolina Basketball Museum—-yes, this program is storied enough to warrant its own museum, which opened last January right next to the arena.

All this for a winter recess game against Rutgers.

This was the scene Sunday. An outsider can only imagine the atmosphere before an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown in February.

— This is 10 days old, but it’s an interesting look at the pros and cons of the big money that exchanges hands in “guaranteed games” — complete with a great quote from Gary Waters: “Everybody is guaranteed something”

HIGH SCHOOL HOLIDAY TOURNEYS

Looking for some good high school hoops during the holiday week? Here’s our recommendations:

Len Sepanak Tournament at Ridge

Look out for: An interesting Saturday night quarterfinal tilt between Somerville and Montgomery, a possible semifinal showdown between Piscataway and Bloomfield Tech. Will Ridge open its big new gym with a trophy? They’ll have to earn it.

ON THE HIGH SCHOOL FRONT

Heard there has been an awful lot of trouble trying to set up next year’s Union County League for basketball because nobody wants to deal with St. Pat’s in their division. Can you blame them? If the Celtics want to be part of a league that badly they should stop enrolling basketball players from beyond a 20-mile radius of Elizabeth.

Shocker in Bound Brook as the Crusaders lose to Gill St. Bernard’s 63-39. A few thoughts from my colleague Mike New:

Impressive showing from the Knights, who were probably more balanced in their ball distribution than was even shown in their point totals (which were spread around pretty well). Freshman Alex Mitola had the hot hand early, although after swishing three quick 3-pointers, he cooled off for the remainder of the game. Louis Valdes and Dominic Hoffman had solid games from start to finish, combining for 32 points and looking impressive and both ends of the court.

Rough start for Bound Brook, although they missed a handful of uncontested shots that would have at least made it a little bit tighter. They were outplayed, but they won’t be as bad as they looked if they shake their shooting woes. The other problem was that they were the polar opposite of Gill’s balanced attack. Seniors Alex Rosario and Jordan Hawkins accounted for 27 of the Crusaders’ 39 points, and nobody else was really a factor on offense. Based on what I’ve heard, I’d be surprised if Bound Brook doesn’t right the ship moving forward, but this certainly wasn’t the start they were looking for.

Unless something breaks, this will be our last post for a few days. Merry Christmas to all.

HOOPS HAVEN SAYS: It’s too bad, because Lawrence had a legitimate claim, but I can understand his reluctance to forfeit even more of his eligibility. Now he gets two full seasons. We’ll never know for sure, but gut instinct tells me this was payback from the NCAA for the Michael Glover lawsuit. Even though Seton Hall was technically not involved in the suit, word is that it really rankled the powers-that-be.

Bottom line: Now the Hall has to leg out the Big East schedule with eight players, one of whom is injured. To use a Gonzo-ism, they’re going into a gunfight with a water pistol.

1. On its face, there’s no need to sound the alarm over Seton Hall’s 67-65 loss to IUPUI, which is a decent team with a very good coach. What should concern Hall fans, though, is this: Just 24 combined minutes for Mike Davis and Brandon Walters. If those guys can’t get serious time with John Garcia out injured, how will they ever be ready to contribute come the Big East gauntlet?

I’ve also read news of a new Patterson School player’s verbal to the Pirates, but after the reneged/renounced verbals of Cliff Dixon, Chris Turner and Charles Okwandu, I’m going to hold off naming names and making assessments until I get some evidence that this is more solid.

2. Corey Chandler is mired in an epic shooting slump, but Rutgers coach Fred Hill raved about his passing and defense in Rutgers’ 67-37 rout of Bryant Saturday. That doesn’t change the fact that the Scarlet Knights need Chandler to score to be competitive in the Big East. What I liked about Rutgers’ performance was its crisp and unselfish ball movement. Yes, it came against an awful team, but good execution is good execution.

Seeing Tim O’Shea on the Bryant sideline, by the way, made me wonder how the heck Joe Quinlan considered this guy to replace Louis Orr at Seton Hall.

3. High school front: Of all the local results during the first weekend of high school hoops, the one that stands out most is Governor Livingston’s 61-52 win over Rahway. Very impressive win, especially for a program that had to deal with a football sectional final hangover. Rahway was supposed to be the class of the Mountain Valley Conference.

WHAT’S NEW:

My colleague Mike New took in Plainfield-Paterson Catholic and Immaculata-Hillsborough over the weekend. His thoughts:

PLAINFIELD 73, PATERSON CATHOLIC 61: Junior Isaiah Epps and senior Anthony Baskerville carried the scoring load for the Cardinals, netting 24 and 23 points respectively, but perhaps the best all-around performance was turned in by sophomore Tyrone Johnson. The shifty guard had 14 points of his own, but also had a strong day passing, creating opportunities for senior forward Khalid Muhammed.That said, Epps was plenty impressive in his own right, creating a lot of his own shots. He wowed the crowd on several occasions, the most notable being a drive in the third quarter in which he deked a shovel pass to his right, then brought the ball back to the rim for a layup before landing.

New Plainfield head coach Jeff Lubreski is looking to bring an emphasis on defense, and he has plenty of good and bad to take away from this one. The team’s effort in the fourth quarter was impressive, as they held Paterson Catholic without a field goal during the key six minute stretch to start the period. Still, you can’t ignore the first three quarters of the game, during which the Cardinals seemed to be drawn into lulls at the defensive end. They gave up a 13-2 run during a three-minute stretch spanning the first and second quarters, then a 9-0 run bracketing halftime.

This is the second straight season Plainfield has knocked off the Cougars, and gives the Cardinals another impressive opening win, following last year’s upset of Linden.

Rutgers head coach Fred Hill and assistant Jim Carr took in the afternoon’s actions from either endline, while former Scarlet Knights guard Marquis Webb made an appearance among the fans.

IMMACULATA 57, HILLSBOROUGH 45: Spartans senior captain Gamal Mohamed was reportedly fighting a stomach bug Friday, although it seemed his spotty first half had as much to do with forcing some shots while trying to make up for the absence of injured teammates John Mack and Kyle Jordan. He reined himself in during a much better second half in which Immaculata pulled away.

Hillsborough didn’t use enough of its size. The Spartans are a bit undersized, but they did a good job of getting to loose balls around the rim. The Raiders have a lot to build on, but shoring up their rebounding and inside scoring will help them go a long way.

POLL RESULTS:

On the question of when Seton Hall would lose its next game in 2008, responses were, in order, Syracuse (85 votes), run the table (30), James Madison (13) and Delaware (4). Guess that’s a bad job by the pollster.

Now let’s try this new poll: Who is going to win the Big East regular-season title (see right-hand margin to vote)?

LONG-RANGE FORECAST:

I’m in a pool where you pick the NCAA Tournament results in December, and here’s my ballot (it didn’t fare too well on Saturday):

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About the Author

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.Email Jerry.